I've just been given some fresh arriba pods, so I thought I'd see if one of them could be made into some kind of chocolate! I'm running a blog on this - see here http://www.seventypercent.com/.....od/?cat=10 . We don't have logins running for the new Pod blog software yet - in time you will be able to login with your forum details if I can get it working.

So please leave any comments or suggestions here, and help me in my quest to produce something more than a mouldy pile of beans at the end of it!

Check Amys presentation from NY Chocolate Show. A PPT-slide: how she made her own bar from fresh beans.
[url]http://www.amyschocolate.jkchocolatetruffles.com/[/url]

"Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos" (Maricel E. Presilla)

"Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos" (Maricel E. Presilla)

December 8, 20068:46 am

aguynamedrobert

California, USA

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I would check out chocolatealchemy.com . It is a website dedicated to making your owner chocolate...the only thing is you don't have to ferment and dry your own beans...how many pods do you have? You will need to have enough to get the heat up in the pile and kill the beans...if you have enough pods you could pull it off...

Well I only opened the one pod, so I suspect you are right Robert, it may not be enough. I'm trying a tactice to keep them tightly covered but aerated underneath in a bowl in a warm part of the kitchen. Maybe this will work, maybe it will fail hopelessy - but interesting to see! Masur, I thought Amy started with beans rather than pods? Or did I miss that?

hum....actually I went to hawaii a couple months back and got a cacao pod and tried leaving the beans in the pod to see if they would ferment in there(worth a shot) but then had to leave hawaii 2 days later...so lets just say I am interested in seeing if you could do it with one pod and what it would take...or in small batches alltogether.

Hey Martin...did you check out Chocolatealchemy.com ? They are a great source for info on making your own chocolate at home...

In the wild, beans undergo a 3 step 'fermentation' process that involves y/m and a couple types of bacteria that go through both aerobic and anaerobic processes... i think leaving this to happenstance in a comparatively sanitary environment (one's kitchen), you're going to have a hard time pulling off replicating the fermentation process...you'd likely have to innoculate it with something, although you could probably get the y/m portion of it to start independantly...

Then again, if you're like I was in college, your kitchen might have AMPLE innoculation stock to get it going 8-)

December 8, 20069:36 pm

Martin Christy

London, United Kingdom

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I was worried about that Sebastian, that the bacteria might not be present. Be interesting to see if it ferments at all, or if it gets infected by something else and just goes mouldy. It's beginning to look ok, I'll post a photo soon.

well we have yeasts in the air everywhere....it just depends on what kinds...actually being in a different spot might have a different yeast and might change the flavor somewhat(good or bad)...Just like making sourdough breads...we only use the natural yeast in the air...I am just wondering if the heat will get high enough to kill the germ? what do you guys think?

lots and lots and lots, actually. I'm going to get the order wrong here, i'm sure, but it'll go through a y/m process, a lactic fermentation, then an acetic fermentation. As it does this, it'll progress from aerobic processes to anaerobic ones, the moisture content should fall dramatically (from 60-70% to much lower), the alcohol content will rise then fall, and it'll acidify. If you're working with a single pod (40-60 beans, say), unless you've got a specialized set up to control the environment, it's going to be challenging on a number of fronts (not impossible! just harder)...roberts right in that you'll likely not see a significant temperature rise given that amount of bean (although the alcohol will kill the bean too, even if the heat doesn't). While you may not get a very good replication of the fermentation processes that occur naturally, something is still bound to happen (my fear is that it'll go straight to mouldy and stay there...), and the results may still produce a very interesting finished product at the end of the day.

I'm guessing you don't have access to microbiological stock to innoculate with - if you're the experimental type, it might be interesting to do something like the following - open the pods, scoop out all the beans/pulp and sprinkle on the surface a bit of bakers yeast. 2x a day turn the pile over and mix it up. after a couple of days, take some fresh yogurt (yogurt where you think the cultures are still alive and active, not yogurt that's very old and highly processed, and likely doesn't have anything left in it), and mix it through the batch in hopes of getting the cultures in it to take hold. If it works, you should notice the pulp begin to liquify and drain away (don't keep mixing it up at this point, just let it be). 5-7 days should be sufficient. After that,you'll need to dry the beans down to about 6% moisture - this time of year it'll be hard for you to sun dry them, although i wager the relative humidity where you're at is going to be pretty low, so simply setting them outside overnight might be sufficient; alternatively you can put them in the oven at the lowest temperature and the door cracked open for a while to dry them...

I've no idea if it'll work, but it looks good on paper 8-)

December 9, 20063:39 pm

Martin Christy

London, United Kingdom

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mmm ... very interesting Sebastian! Going straight to mouldy is my biggest worry, but so far there's no sign of that happening. I think I will leave it another day and see if anything starts without any additions. So far the pulp has just begun to look a little translucent. If nothing more happens then in desparation I may start to add stuff tomorrow. Even if this goes wrong, it's very educational about what not to do!

I've now moved the beans into a warm cupboard as I was worried about temperature fluctuations.

Hey Martin...Has what day are you on now? Has any of the pulp started to liquify yet? hum....well this is definitely going to teach us a lot about small batch fermentation...of all the people in the past, how many people got something like this right the first time? lol...this is the fun stuff...finding the information out through trial and error...keep us posted...

Day 3 now. It's maybe going right, but then what do I know! It could be liquifying, but the pulp is still on the pods. It is certainly changing though. Also there is a faint smell of fermentation, not one of mould. It's not unpleasant and a little woody. Will post another photo soon.